Some people are born just to die.

The vast earth lay beneath a swirling dance of snow.

Ye Shu knelt in the snow, holding Liu Ruyi in his arms as he felt the life slowly ebbing from her body. Her face was deathly pale, and her delicate lips had long since lost their color. Yet there was still a smile in her dimming eyes.

“I… finally caught you…”

She spoke weakly, one word at a time. “You said you didn’t like me. If you don’t like someone, would you hold her this tightly?”

Ye Shu was rendered speechless.

He stared blankly at Liu Ruyi in his arms. She was still wearing the bridal gown from the day they were married. She had never taken it off since that day.

It seemed she wore that dress at all times.

“I…”

Ye Shu was silent for a moment before slowly saying, “It isn’t like that, Liu Ruyi. It isn’t like that.”

“You don’t love me.”

“You only love the version of me in your memories—the one who would slaughter his way through the Demon Sect in the future and kill you. Those memories are false. They were merely the result of your memories being altered.”

“That can’t even be called love.”

“It’s nothing more than your pursuit of the illusion of a powerful man, a projection of your own state of mind. That person could have been anyone, so long as he was strong enough—and so long as he was the first person you met.”

“This isn’t love, Liu Ruyi.”

“Because it’s illusory.”

“If this must be called love, then you loved the wrong person.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ye Shu let out a soft sigh and finally voiced everything he had kept buried in his heart for so long. He did not want to continue concealing the existence of the System from Liu Ruyi during the final moments of her life.

A trace of surprise flashed through Liu Ruyi’s eyes.

She had never expected Ye Shu to say such things at a moment like this.

But soon, she began to laugh.

“That really is just like you.”

She sighed. “At a time like this, instead of saying something sweet to deceive me, you’re still lecturing me.”

“But you’re wrong, Ye Shu.”

“You’re wrong.”

Liu Ruyi smiled softly. “If I merely worshipped the strong, why wouldn’t I admire the Demon Sect’s leader? Why wouldn’t I offer myself to those old monsters who have lived for centuries or even millennia?”

“And yet it had to be you.”

“It had to be you, who was completely unknown back then.”

“I have never loved the illusion in those memories. I love you—the you who, despite having only a Foundation Establishment cultivation, toyed with four Deity Transformation cultivators in Snakefolk City and stole the Azure Lotus Heavenly Flame; the you who remained calm and unafraid in the face of danger during the Qingxuan Sect’s disciple-recruitment ceremony; the you who faced a hundred opponents alone at the Cloudsky Sect; the you who remained composed even when the Six Emperors descended upon the world; the you who, trapped in the Demon Camp, could still say that good and evil were not the same as right and wrong.”

“The more I learned about you, the more I loved you.”

“Until I came to understand everything about you.”

“How could such love possibly be wrong?”

Liu Ruyi shook her head. One hand gently stroked Ye Shu’s cheek, and the smile on her face deepened.

“I not only caught you—I also found your mistake.”

“I finally won for once…”

Her voice gradually weakened, and her hand slipped limply down.

Watching the color fade from Liu Ruyi’s face, Ye Shu was utterly powerless to save her.

There was nothing he could do.

Ghost Possession could only provide him with combat strength. What was more, its time limit had already expired. The Benevolent Body had died, and he had exhausted all his mental strength merely suppressing the Demon Body. Though the vision of a half-immortal allowed him to think of a hundred ways to save Liu Ruyi, the snowy wilderness stretched on for miles, with scarcely a person in sight.

Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice. He possessed an ocean of knowledge, but not a single useful material was in his hands.

“Are you… sad?”

Liu Ruyi’s eyes were nearly shut. She could only vaguely make out half of a blurred face. The corners of her lips curved upward.

“I caught you again…”

“Do you remember? You owe me three conditions…”

“I remember.”

Ye Shu replied, “There’s only one condition left.”

“This final condition…”

Liu Ruyi’s eyes closed completely. Her voice fell away with her last breath.

“Promise me… don’t make things too difficult for yourself…”

“…”

Snowflakes drifted through the air. Liu Ruyi had lost all signs of life, leaving only a corpse whose remaining warmth was slowly fading in Ye Shu’s arms.

Her expression was peaceful, and a smile rested upon her lips.

It was as though she had not died, but had instead fallen into a beautiful dream from which she never wished to awaken.

Some birds are born to fly.

Some people are born to die.

Ye Shu knew this clearly. He understood that Liu Ruyi had to die. Because of her identity, because of her past—no matter how pure she appeared.

Stories often tell you that the Demon Venerable is innocent.

But they never tell you why the Demon Venerable is able to remain innocent, or what price supports the freedom and willfulness behind that innocence.

Ye Shu knew.

Yet as one who had benefited from all of this, he could not escape responsibility.

He held Liu Ruyi in his arms and said nothing.

The snow continued to fall. Before long, it had piled over the two of them, forming a small mound of snow. Medusa and Danxia watched from a distance, neither of them stepping forward to disturb him.

The joys and sorrows of human beings are not shared.

For example, Ye Xiaoxi was practically dumbfounded by the scene.

“What a mushy old couple. Good thing they aren’t my parents, or that would be so embarrassing.”

She glanced left and right.

Medusa and Danxia were standing nearby, watching. They simply stared on as their father held another woman in his arms, without saying a word or making a sound.

Ye Xiaoxi could not help complaining inwardly, “These two spineless women are actually my mothers? How humiliating.”

She brushed the snow from her arms, her teeth chattering from the cold.

Damn it.

If they wanted to mourn, couldn’t they at least find somewhere safe to do it? What if those people caught up with them?

Speak of the devil, and he appears.

The instant Ye Xiaoxi’s thought formed, a faint rush of wind came from the distant horizon. Then golden light split open the sky.

Five figures wrapped in dazzling golden radiance arrived together. They were the patriarchs of the other five great families, apart from the Zhao and Mo Families.

The five strongest experts in the world had come together.

The mere trace of pressure they released caused the entire snowy wilderness to tremble. Snow slid rumbling down the mountain ridges, becoming a vast white waterfall. Yet it could not approach them, instead forming a magnificent spectacle in midair.

“So you were hiding here.”

Yan Kuang let out a cold laugh. At a glance, he spotted Ye Shu kneeling in the snow.

“Did you think hiding in this desolate wilderness would let you escape us?”

“But I suppose it makes no difference. In our hands, hiding anywhere on this continent would be meaningless. After all, we represent the ultimate strength of this age!”

Yan Kuang stepped through the air, and space melted inch by inch beneath his feet.

He looked down at Ye Shu from above. Seeing the cold corpse in his arms, his face lit up with delight, and he sneered.

“Oh? You’re even holding a dead woman?”

“Have you finally tasted what it feels like to lose someone important to you?”

Yan Kuang made no effort to conceal the mockery in his voice.

Ye Shu remained unmoved.

Holding Liu Ruyi’s corpse, he gently kissed her already-cold lips.

“I told you, I would guide you through.”

With that, he rose to his feet and looked expressionlessly at the patriarchs of the great families.

His voice was cold.

“All of you will die.”